Peek Into My Life As A Sports Mom

How many times have you gone to the kitchen to prepare lunch only to go back to working your business or doing your household chores because you didn’t know what to have? I have been in that situation before and I hate it because I usually end up with a headache or eating something that’s not good for me because I’m starving.

My son was clipping coupons for me a few weeks ago and ran across several recipes that he clipped and gave it to me. I put them in the cupboard not even giving it another thought.

Last weekend we got our Bountiful Basket delivery and inside it was some broccoli and cauliflower along with many other wonderful fruits and vegetables. We don’t eat a lot of the items we receive quickly enough and they go bad, so I’ve been learning how to freeze fruits and vegetables so we can eat them when we’re ready.

Anyway, we purchased a two pack of individual containers of Minute Rice at the store. I saw that in the cupboard today and that reminded me about one of the recipes my son had clipped for me. I grabbed the recipe and quickly realized we had everything to make it and it would take 5 minutes to prepare and cook it. Yay!!!!

I enjoyed the meal so much that I thought I’d share it with all of you today.

Cheesy Turkey and Broccoli Rice

1 container Minute Ready to Serve White Rice
1/3 cup (2 ounces) cooked turkey, chopped
1/3 cup broccoli florets (fresh or frozen)
2 oz pasteurized prepared cheese product, cubed
2 tablespoons water or milk

COMBINE rice, turkey, and broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl.

HEAT on HIGH for 2 minutes. Stir in cheese and water or milk. Microwave for 1 more minute.

STIR until well blended and creamy. Serves 1

Now here is what I did with the recipe.

I had brown rice instead of white, I didn’t use the turkey, I used shredded cheese instead of block cheese, and I forgot to add the water or milk. LOL

It was awesome and I will definitely have it again because it was easy and really good. We have cauliflower and carrots in the freezer, so I may give those a try as well. I might even mix the three vegetables together for an even different taste.

How many times have you gone into a public place and have had someone not use their manners with you or someone else? It happens all the time and it’s possible the reason is because we were never taught what manners are and how we should use them all the time.

It’s important we use manners at all times because hurting others or being mean to others is not a good idea. The saying, “Do unto others as you would want done to you” is important and a good rule to follow.

Here are the top 10 manners you should use when you have the need.

1. When you ask for something make sure you say please.
2. When someone gives you something make sure you say thank you.
3. Don’t reach across the table for something, ask for it.
4. When you’re asked how you’re doing make sure you ask them in return.
5. If you’re not sure if you’re supposed to do something, ask for permission.
6. If you must walk in front of someone or you run into them, say excuse me.
7. Don’t be mean or call others names.
8. Don’t make fun of others or tease them for any reason.
9. Don’t say mean things about the appearance of others.
10. Don’t interrupt others when they are speaking. Wait for them to stop.

It doesn’t matter where you live, how old you are, or who you are, using your manners is a must. It also doesn’t matter what you’re doing or where you are, manners need to be used at all times. When you’re a parent you must teach your children about manners at an early age. It’s also important you use your manners at all times since children follow what the adults in their lives.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of http://WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has two teenager boys. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you go to http://peekintomylifeasasportsmom.com to read her mommy blog.

How many times have you told your child, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”? I know I used to tell my boys that on a regular basis. Sometimes it felt like I was telling them this several times a day. Small children and sometimes the older ones as well, don’t understand this, but it’s something you need to show them or they’ll have money problems for years to come.

We give our boys an allowance every week, but it doesn’t come free. They must do chores around the house or they won’t get it. Those chores include taking out the trash, rolling the garbage can to the street once a week, taking care of the dog, cleaning their rooms, and helping pick up other rooms in the house. It’s not a lot, but we do expect them to help or they won’t be paid.

It’s no different then a regular job or a business. If you sit around and do nothing all day, you’re not going to receive a paycheck for it and if you do it won’t take long before it’s noticed and it comes to an end. Well you need to treat the chores and allowance the same way.

If they don’t do what’s been assigned to them for the day or week, the allowance will either be docked for a certain amount or it won’t be given at all. This may be hard to do, so you’ll need to come up with a way to make it work. Pay a certain amount of money a day or per chore so it’s easy to dock it from the pay when it’s not done. Using a whiteboard may help with this or you can create a spreadsheet with the chores and boxes to mark when it’s been done.

Another thing we struggled with was with them borrowing money. If one of the boys wanted something at the store, but didn’t have the money we used to buy it for them and not require them to pay us back. It got to a point where he would purposely leave his money at home because he knew we’d just buy it for him. While this was a hard lesson it was one we decided was a must. We were spending way too much money doing this and it was defeating the purpose, so it came to an end. Read the rest of this entry »

Well we’re almost done with football. This is our last week and to tell you the truth, I’m really sad about it. I love watching Chris play. He’s improved so much this year and that’s been awesome to watch. Soon basketball will be starting for Josh, so we’ll have a short about of time before it all starts up again.

Here is our list for the week. We have a new recipe this time and several oldies, but goodies.

Monday – Turkey Pinani
Tuesday – Chef Salad
Wednesday – Dorito Casserole
Thursday – Loaded baked potatoes
Friday – Take out
Saturday – Ham and Mashed Potatoes
Sunday – Chicken and noodles

The weather here is turning cold and I’m sure before too much longer we’ll have snow on the ground. I’m not looking forward to that, but it is what it is and we just have to deal with it. Do your meals have anything to do with the weather or do you make what you want regardless of the temperature outside?

Halloween is fast approaching and those costumes are going fast. I looked at them the other day and was shocked at the price. It’s hard to justify spending $25 or more on an outfit you’ll likely wear once and that’s it.

My boys are older now, so most times if they do anything a mask and street clothes will be sufficient enough for them, but that wasn’t the case when they were little. A full blown costume was what they needed and of course wanted.

If money is tight, spending $25+ is not an option, so what do you do? Well the only one I could come up with was to make one. Purchasing the material, pattern, and everything else is good, but if you don’t understand the pattern, what do you do? Of course, you go to the store and spend the money.

I found an awesome ebook that gives so much more help then you’d ever get from a pattern. There are 90+ costumes so you’re sure to find one your child will be happy with and each costume comes with a supply list, descriptions, and so much more. It’s perfect for anyone and any homemade costume making skill level.

So if you need to spend less on a Halloween costume or you want to take the time to make one yourself, the “Homemade Halloween Costumes Made Simple” ebook is a must for you. Click here to purchase your own copy through my affiliate link.

Happy Halloween!

Spending time with your family is important, but it’s even more important when you include God in what you do. As a Christian family it’s more important now then ever to continually be in the Word. The devil is out there to kill, steal, and destroy and he’s going to try now matter what, so staying in the Word is the way to prevent that from happening.

It’s important and vital to continually show your children how God can help them in their lives and the best way to do that is to include God in everything you do. You can do this very easily and in every single thing you do when you think about what you’re doing and how you can make it happen.

There are so many things you can do to have God in your life. I have thought about this and have come up with a number of ways. One way is to do daily prayer together. This can be done in the morning before you head out for the day or in the evening right before the kids go to bed. Another way is to have daily Bible study with the family. This will help you keep in the Word daily and you’ll be able to get through any situation that may come up.

For more ideas about how you can spend time with your family and include God in it, click here today. You’ll find this pack of articles will help you make it happen.

We’re in the middle of football season so our meals must be quick on certain days. The games may be early so dinner is fine or they may be late so a quick meal is in order. Regardless, enjoyable meals are a must. LOL  Here is our list for the week.

Monday – Potato Soup
Tuesday – French Dips
Wednesday – Goulash
Thursday – Monte Cristo’s
Friday – Spaghetti
Saturday – Chicken and Rice
Sunday – Hamburgers

Hope you have some good things on the list for this week. Please share in the comments below if you have something good that we may like to try.

Teenagers have a lot of hormones running ramped in their bodies. At times they can handle them on their own, but more times than not, they don’t know how and they take it out on others or they make poor choices. Sometimes the actions are ok, but other times they aren’t, so it’s important you help them through it.

Regularly talk to your teenager about things going on in your community and in the world. While it’s almost impossible to talk about everything, you can do a lot when you talk to them and share with them how you would handle the situation if they had done what this person did.

Helping your child through this difficult time is not easy, but it needs to be done or you’ll find your child will be depressed or worse, they’ll do something they will regret for the rest of their lives. You don’t want that to happen, so it’s best to help them through it. Here are a few tips to help make that happen.

One the best ways to help your teenager overcome the difficult times they go through with their hormones is to communicate with them. Make sure you tell them you are always there for them no matter what happens. You need to show them you want them to feel comfortable talking to you about anything and everything. When you get them to this point they’ll know you care.

While discipline is difficult to do with your teenager, it’s something you must do. It’s another one of those things that’ll show them you care. They may be really upset when you first do it, but they will remember it when they go to do it again. The actions they do now will effect them later in life so it’s important to discipline them when they do something wrong. When they know you’re series about it they won’t do it again. After a time or two of being punished for something you told them not to do they’ll see you’re doing it because you love them.

Teenagers have a tendency to wear their feelings on their shirt sleeve, which makes it hard to live with them at times. A look given to them or a few words spoken is all it takes to set them off. The attitude comes out and you’re in it for the long hall. So it’s best to help them through these tough times. Communication and disciplinary actions are two of the best ways to help your teenager through this difficult time in their life. Make sure you show them you care and that you love them.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has two teenager boys. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you click here to read her mommy blog.

Today is Josh’s 13th birthday and it’s a very special day. He’s been looking forward to this day for a long time, but I’ll tell you if it weren’t for the doctors and nurses at the Wyoming Medical Center and Presbyterian St Luke’s hospital in Denver along with God, Josh wouldn’t be with us today.

Josh was born five weeks early and his lungs were not fully developed. Praise God for putting the idea of giving me the steroid injection to mature his lungs in the mind of my doctor, because the doctors in Denver told us that was the only thing that saved Josh. The other thing that helped Josh was his size. At 35 weeks, Josh was 5 pounds 6 1/2 ounces. Most children at that age are around 2 or 3 pounds. My doctor said if he would have gone full term he would have been over 10 pounds.

Right after Josh was born he was taken away to an incubator where they worked on him. I’ll tell you it was one of the scariest things we’ve gone through, but it was by the grace of God that we made it through. Minutes after he was born he was taken to have a chest X-ray done so they could put a tube in him to help him breathe. He would have another one while he was in Casper just to make sure it was in properly. He was put in the nursery and stayed there until the doctors and nurses from Denver could get here. Josh was in Casper for 7 hours and then he was flown to Denver.

We decided Kevin would go with him, but I would have to stay behind because I had a fever and they needed to find the source of it so they could help me to get better as well. The ambulance came with the doctors and nurses from Denver and they loaded Josh up and headed to the airport. After getting a mile or two away from the hospital it was discovered that Kevin was not with them, so they made a mad dash back to the hospital for him. Once they arrived at the airport Josh, Kevin, the doctors, and the nurses were loaded into a jet and they were on their way to Denver.

Once in Denver they would take a helicopter from the airport to the hospital but there wasn’t enough room for Kevin so they called ahead for a cab to take Kevin to the hospital. The cab driver got lost and Kevin had to walk a good while down the road before the two would meet. By the time Kevin made it to the hospital Josh was settled into his incubator in the NICU. We were able to get Kevin a room in the attached retirement community that the hospital had. He would make numerous daily trips to the NICU to be with Josh.

Meanwhile I was back in Casper stressing and feeling horrible. I was not able to hold Josh and that broke my heart. My doctor put me on antibiotics and my fever went away. After spending four days in the hospital I was finally able to go home, but I couldn’t bring myself to go by myself so Chris and I stayed at my mom and dad’s house until I was able to make the trip to Denver. After an additional two days I couldn’t handle it anymore so I made a call to my doctor. I told her one way or the other I was going to Denver and I’d hoped she would give me the ability to go. She gave me some medicine and sent me on my way. My mom and dad drove me and Chris to Denver so we could be with Kevin and Josh. After five days I was finally able to hold my little boy. He was so little and had all sorts of wires and cords attached to him.

While we were at the hospital Josh had lost a little over a pound. We were told he couldn’t leave until he was back up to birth weight so we were going to have to wait for him to get back up to the 5 pound 6 1/2 ounce mark as well. They did tell us he could go home on oxygen, but he might have to go back to the hospital in Casper if the level of oxygen he was at was at a certain amount. We prayed that would not be the case, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it was the case.

Day after day we would visit Josh multiple times a day. We hated the thought of him being alone even though he had his own nurse to take care of him. There was a time or two where I’d wake up in the middle of the night and Kevin would be gone, but I always knew where he was. I woke up a few times, but couldn’t find my way so I wasn’t able to go. There were also a few times where both of us would be awake so we’d go together. The one thing that helped us was the place we stayed at was connected to the hospital so we had the ability to walk the halls to get to him.

After a week of being in the hospital and continually being with him, the nurses told us we needed to get out and do something. So we decided to go to Casa Bonita for dinner. We had to be back by a certain time so we could get in the hospital where we parked at, so we were limited on the time we had for dinner. We enjoyed our dinner, but truly missed Josh so we decided to go back. We could see the hospital but with all the one way streets we got lost. We finally made it back to the hospital with one minute to spare. What a relief!

During Josh’s stay in the NICU he had an IV in his head and needless to say that was horrible. He still has a scar from that IV and the hair won’t grow in that spot. He also had a feeding tube and the tube to help him breathe. Each time they tried to remove the tube he would stop breathing so the tube would have to be reconnected. He spent 7 days on a breathing tube before he was able to be taken off and put on oxygen.  At that point he was moved to the regular nursery. It was an exciting day to say the least.

On the 8th day we were scheduled to go home. We were so excited. In the final hours they were monitoring things and Josh had what they call a brady. This is where the heart skips a beat. We all have those but when they are caught on a monitor the hospital won’t let you go home. You must go 24 hours without one before you can leave. So the going home status was changed and we were stuck there again. Approximately 18 hours later, he had another brady so again we weren’t going home. While we understood why he couldn’t go home, it was frustrating and we were sad. Finally after 10 days of being there we were finally able to go home.

We put him in the only car seat we had and he looked so little. We had to put blankets and towels around him so he would fit. Thirteen years ago that was ok to do, but that’s probably not something they would allow to happen now. LOL  The trip home was scary, but God was there to protect us all along the way. Since we were both worried about him, I road all the way home in the back seat. Josh did a wonderful job and slept almost all the way home.

Thirteen years later, Josh is a wonderful child and you’d never know he was born five weeks early and spent time on a breathing tube. He’s energetic, loves to play basketball, soccer, and run in track. He loves playing games and is very good with a computer. He’s a happy and very funny kid and that’s wonderful to see.

Today I want to say happy birthday to a wonderful young man. I’m proud of you Josh and I love you so much. Have a great day buddy!

Another work week is upon us, but I think for most of us it’s a short one due to the Labor Day holiday. I hope you’ve had a good one. We’re going to go the lake to get some fishing in before the weather turns, so our meals will be quick.

Monday – Dorito casserole
Tuesday – Turkey dips
Wednesday – Club Sandwiches
Thursday – Spaghetti
Friday – Eat out
Saturday – Goulash
Sunday – Left Over’s

What do you have on the menu this week? Share with us in the comments.